I’ve just (almost) finished converting this blog to my new website which will look exactly like this blog except I have a new address. From now on find me at http://bethyarnall.com
Walking on the Moon June 25, 2009
Many things can be said about Michael Jackson, not all of it good. But, in his heyday there was no one better. I remember buying the record (yeah vinyl!)Thriller at Kmart. I also bought Duran Duran’s Seven & the Ragged Tiger at the same time. I dont’ know why I remember this so well. Maybe in some oddly prophetic moment this memory was burned into my brain. Listening to the album I knew this record would be HUGE. When Michael Jackson sang Billie Jean at Motown’s 25th anniversary special he did the moonwalk and the crowd gasped.
Watch it now and remember him when he was at his best, before he became a characiture of himself, before the allegations of child molestation and before he nearly dropped his son off a balcony. Appreciate his brilliance, his innovation, his talent this one last time.
Make Love Not War June 22, 2009
There has been much discussion online lately regarding the benefits of authors being published traditionally (in hardback or paperback) or being e-published (full length novels & novellas available for download in various formats for various devices). From what I understand either choice has its advantages and disadvantages.
Now before I continue, I want to make it clear that I know absolutely nothing about the publishing business. I am not published in either format. I am not affiliated with any publisher. But I have been watching and listening to both sides of the debate between RWA’s (Romance Writers of America-one of the largest writers organizations in the US) President Diane Pershing and the many e-pub’d members of RWA. And it’s getting heated.
Oh, boy is it ever.
RWA has set rules and guidelines about how the organization grants PAN (Published Authors Network) status and the qualifications to enter their prestigious contests- The Golden Heart for un-pub’d authors and the Rita for published authors. Unfortunately those rules and guidelines have left some e-pub’d authors unable to qualify for any of these RWA benefits and they are crying foul. In a big way.
Earlier this week Literary Agent and author Deidre Knight wrote a letter addressed to Diane Pershing the president of RWA (linked here)on The Electronic & Small Press Author’s Network (an RWA special interest chapter) calling for a change in the rules and guidelines thus allowing e-pub’d authors to take advantage of the full range of benefits offered by RWA. She goes on further to say that RWA’s stance on this subject creates a feeling of elitism and alienation and that the rules and guidelines were designed by RWA to exclude a growing sector of their membership (I’m paraphrasing here, please forgive me if I’ve misinterpreted).
Diane Pershing responded a few days later (linked here) restating RWA’s position and reasoning that RWA’s rules and guidelines were designed to benefit the majority of the organization’s 10,000 plus membership. She went on to explain how RWA protects its members similar to the way SAG protects actors and their potential earnings by setting standards for RWA approved publishers based on how those publishers pay advances and royalties to their authors.
I wanted to also include an article written by Kassia Krozser (linked here)on Quartet Press (an upstart romance e-publisher) in which she offers suggestions and solutions on how RWA & its e-pub’d authors can walk hand and hand into the sunset and live happily ever after (okay not really but she does have some excellent suggestions!).
The articles I’ve listed are just a few of the many, hundreds, maybe even thousands of opinions on the subject. I hope you take the time and read them and any others you can get your hot little hands on.
As always, and since this is my blog, I get to give my opinion which you can either take or leave especially in light of my admitted lack of knowledge and experience in this area.
I have been a member of RWA for a year and a half. I am a PRO (an unpub’d author who has completed a novel and been granted this RWA distinction) most of what I have learned about the industry I have learned from RWA. Last year I attended the national convention and the PRO retreat at the convention, but didn’t stay for the session on e-publishing. Maybe I should have, but e-publishing hasn’t been my goal.
I have friends who are traditionally published and friends who are e-published. Both seem pleased with their individual publishing choices. I have always seen RWA as both educator and protector, looking out for the interest of their membership whether published or not. I understand their stance on this issue and I appreciate it.
I also understand the points the e-published authors are trying to make and I imagine if I were them or e-publishing was my goal, I would be standing with them on these issues.
What I don’t understand are those who are willing to quit RWA over these issues. Change is made from within, not from without. And I am reminded of Ghandi’s quote- ‘Be the change you want to see in the world.’ I was pleased to see that Ms. Knight sent out a message asking for cooler heads to prevail and for those who have said they would quit RWA to not do so but to stay and take part in bringing about change.
And I would ask the same, please stay and lend your knowledge, experience and insight. RWA needs you, I need you to teach, to guide and to enlighten. Just because e-publishing isn’t my goal now, doesn’t mean it won’t ever be.
I would also ask RWA to continue to educate and protect your members especially us neophytes. Protect us from unscrupulous publishers & agents. Educate us on every aspect of the publishing industry so that we may make the best, most knowledgeable decisions about our careers. And please find some way to include every one of your members in either the Golden Heart contest or the Rita contest as this seems to be, in my humble opinion, the simplest way to bridge one of the gaps between the two sides. Can you give a little on this one point, please?
Let me know your thoughts on these issues and most importantly of all, if you are a member of RWA, let them know your thoughts as well. An organization is only as strong as its membership.
I’d appreciate some in-site June 18, 2009
I’m going to the RWA National convention in Washington DC in a few weeks so I’m making up new business cards.
I want them to be professional, informative and well, cool looking.
They need to have all of my pertinent info including my pages on Myspace, Twitter, Facebook and this blog. But I’m thinking it’s time for a ‘real’ website, one that is easy to update and links to my blog. So I’ve put in a call for help, actually I’ve emailed 2 people who may be able to help. I hope. Because while I’ve done well with this blog (I designed it myself-What do you think?), it’s time I move on the the next step.
So, I want those of you with websites to give me some advice. What did you wish you knew going in? What would you do different? If you designed it yourself, how easy was it? What would you change about it?
Things I’ve come to appreciate more and more the older I get June 14, 2009
The other night DH and I went out to dinner with the family for Auntie’s birthday. Picture a swanky, dimly lit, leather boothed, steak house with photos of old movie stars and 112 kinds of martinis on the menu. Okay, maybe not 112, but there were an unusually large number of martini choices. You get the idea.
We got to chatting about birthdays and getting older and after much It’s better than the alternative we started naming things we appreciate now that we are ‘of an age’.
Here’s the list-
A good pair of tweezers
Boredom/nothing to do
Spanx (the ladies will get this one)
A comfy chair
The TV remote control
Modern medicine
24 hour TV-for when we can’t sleep
Friends & family
Car navigation systems
A good pair of glasses
Air conditioning
Birthdays
What have you developed an appreciation for?
Perfect in our imperfection June 11, 2009
I don’t consider myself a catty person and this blog post is by no means meant to change that. But a few months ago I posted a blog entry about Megan Fox being named the sexiest woman in the world by FHM magazine (Wait, hold your rolling eyes & “who cares” until I’m done.) At the time I wrote about how incredibly skinny the actress is and expressed my concerns as to why they chose Megan Fox of all people as the sexiest woman… in the world.
This week I had to feel bad for the poor emaciated girl because the big 
news is that tragic little Megan Fox has a thumb deformity called brachydactyly or ‘club thumb’. Yeah, seriously this is a stop everything moment and immediately Google Megan Fox thumb. Or at least it was for the Hollywood gossip shows.
So she has a ‘deformity’, lots of us do. My right knee has a large bump just below my knee cap from having Osgood Schlatter as a child. #1 son has a small scar from plastic surgery to repair his unilateral cleft lip (so does Stacy Keech, Cheech Marin & Joaquin Phoenix), DH has a birthmark on his scalp where the hair grows in white and Monkey Boy’s second toe is longer than his big one.
Big whoop.
Maybe it’s time to rethink the word deformity and perhaps adjust our opinion that only perfection equates to beauty.
So tell me… What is your flaw, your deformity? Come on, everyone has at least one…
Let’s Review-Surrender to a Wicked Spy June 2, 2009
It’s been a while since I’ve written anything new here and my thanks go out to my friend Barrie for getting me back in the habit. I’ve missed writing my blog and it turns out some of you miss me writing it too-for that I thank you.
This month I’ll be reviewing a historical romance called Surrender to a Wicked Spy part of The Royal Four series by Celeste Bradley.
They are known simply as The Royal Four—but there’s nothing simple about the elite band of spies who serve the King in secrecy. Their missions are dangerous, their love lives are scandalous…and each man in the Royal Four has his own secrets. This is the story of the spy known as The Lion…
Olivia Calwell’s new husband, Dane, is everything she could have ever hoped for in a man. The handsome Lord Greenleigh is charming, debonair, even a bit mysterious…and just thinking of their wedding night makes Olivia blush with pleasure. Yet she can’t help but wonder what exactly Dane does all day. His hushed meetings with strangers, his odd comings and goings—it is all enough to drive Olivia mad! Could her beloved husband be involved in something dangerous? Could he even be spying for France?
Spy Dane Calwell knows the new Lady Greenleigh is poised, well educated, and utterly captivating. But he’s just discovered that Olivia is also the most curious creature he has ever met! Most wives don’t give a whit what their husbands do all day. Why must Olivia ask so many questions—and meddle in matters that do not concern her? Truth be told, Dane finds Olivia’s amateur sleuthing enchanting…even a little sexy. But when Olivia gets too close to the mission at hand, Dane must try to stop her before it’s too late—or risk losing his beautiful wife forever…
I have a feeling the backcover blurb was written before the book was finished because most of the problems these two encounter are due to Dane’s “problem” and not so much about his being a spy. But that’s okay because it turns out his horrible “problem”, his awful affliction, his terrible disfigurement is… his uncommonly large, wonderfully tremendous manhood.
Yeah, terrible ain’t it?
Ah, come on don’t roll your eyes. It could be terrible, not that I’d know having only heard of such things as Urban Lengends. *sigh* It certainly seems terrible for Olivia and Dane, so horrible that they have to employ The Five Rods of the Rajah-a set of 5 phallics that increase in size from alright to Holly Mary Mother of God! and are eventually able to overcome his deformity and go on to have a satisfying (snicker) night of marital bliss at long last.
Celeste Bradley’s heroines are always clever never TSTL (too stupid to live) and her heroes are brawny, wickedly handsome and totally into the heroine. And the title has 2 of the 20 historical power words in the title-surrender and wicked. Who could ask for more? I give Surrender to a Wicked Spy 4 magnum condoms and a wink 
.
Pop on over to my friend Barrie Summy’s blog to check out more wonderful book reviews.
Hard or Soft? April 24, 2009
No, you dirty minded things, I’m talking about hard or soft covered books. Yesh!
With all of the rearranging and upheaval in the publishing world somethings never change like the weight and feel of a hard cover novel or the portability and afordability of a paperback book.
Fewer and fewer new books are being published in hard cover, the cost is just too high. I know a few authors who have never had a book published in hard cover.
Inexpensive books bound in paper have existed since at least the 19th century and exist in a number of formats that have specific names, such as pamphlets, cheap editions, yellowbacks, dime novels and airport novels. Today most paperbacks are called either “mass-market paperback” or “trade paperback”. From Wikipedia
Downloadable book purchases are on the rise with the invention of e-book readers, iphone apps,computers and ipods. Many love that one device can hold thousands of books, not to mention the ‘green’ benefits of these devices.
But there’s something magical about a hardcover book. Hardcovers are generally associated with profound literary works and at one time it was fashionable to remove the book cover with it’s back of the book blurb, cover art and author photo. Again giving the image of profound literary taste.
I love the bulk of a hardcover book, it feels like a treat. What do you think? Hard or soft?
Happy Earth Day 2009! April 21, 2009
I was surprised to know that Earth Day is nearly as old as me!
2010 marks the 40th anniversary and the 13th year my city Tustin, CA was named ‘Tree City USA’ by the National Arbor Day Foundation. We also have a community garage sale and recycle program.
What does your city do? Any special plans for today?
A little Friday fun… April 17, 2009
Gotta pee…
Two women friends had gone for a girl’s night out. Both were very faithful and loving wives, but they had gotten over-enthusiastic on the Bacardi Breezers.
Incredibly drunk and walking home they needed to pee, so they stopped in the cemetery. One of them had nothing to wipe with so she thought she would take off her panties and use them.
Her friend however was wearing a rather expensive pair of panties and did not want to ruin them.
She was lucky enough to squat down next to a grave that had a wreath with a ribbon on it, so she proceeded to wipe with that.
After the girls did their business, they proceeded to go home.
The next day one of the women’s husbands was concerned that his normally sweet and innocent wife was still in bed hungover, so he phoned the other husband and said, ‘These girl nights out have got to stop! I’m starting to suspect the worst… My wife came home with no panties!!’
‘That’s nothing,’ said the other husband, ‘Mine came back with a card stuck to her ass that said…..
‘From all of us at the Fire Station. We’ll never forget you!’
